If your job responsibilities include starting, scheduling, performing, controlling, and finishing the team projects, then you are most likely a Project Manager. In this competitive world, we all need to constantly evolve to keep pace with technological progress. If you want to prove your skills related to project management, then certification from the Project Management Institute can be an ideal choice for you.

Project Management Institute, or PMI, is a non-profit organization which specializes in the development of standards for project management. The scope of activities also includes research, publication, education, training seminars, and accreditation. There are a few different certifications provided by PMI:

PMP or Project Management Professional

PgMP or Program Management Professional

PfMP or Portfolio Management Professional

CAPM or Certified Associate in Project Management

PMI-PBA or PMI Professional in Business Analysis

PMI-ACP or PMI Agile Certified Practitioner

PMI-RMP or PMI Risk Management Professional

PMI-SP or PMI Scheduling Professional

We are sure that there are more than enough options to choose for an interested person. You can select the certification that matches your needs and abilities. In this article, we will discuss what is PMI-ACP certification and which benefits it can bring to you.

PMI-ACP certification: general overview

PMI-ACP or PMI Agile Certified Practitioner is intended for specialists who have solid skills in collaboration, know how to use agile approaches, and able to cope with multi-level projects. With PMI-ACP certification, you can prove to your employers that you are well familiar with agile principles and techniques and able to respond to the changing market dynamics. PMI-ACP certification can also serve as an indication of your hands-on experience.

PMI-ACP prerequisites

To get certified, you need to have the followingexperience:

2,000 hours of work with the crew(s) on versatile projects

1,500 hours of work with the agile project crew(s) or with agile approaches

21 hours of training in different agile practices

The exam consists of 120 multiple-choice questions and lasts 3 hours. Your certification remains valid if you earn 30 PDUs (professional development units) in agile topics and submit them every three years. The price for PMI-ACP exam is US$435.00 for members and US$495.00 for non-members. We agree that this is quite a lot, but you can believe us that your costs will pay off as you will be able to find a high-paying job or get a raise.

You can learn more about PMI-ACP certification on PMI website.

The top benefits of PMI-ACP certification

There are numerous benefits of PMI-ACP certification, and we listed them below to help you decide whether you should apply for it.

1. Get a hold of rare knowledge

Not many people have proper knowledgeof agile methodologies, and you can be one of the few professionals to have enough skills to lead the team to success. If you feel the lack of knowledge in the field of agile methodologies, this certification will give you all the information about it. If you are experienced enough, PMI Agile Certified Practitioner will fill out any gaps in knowledge that you might have. If you study thoroughly, you can become a master in the subject and lead your company to new heights.

2. Get a solid proof of your skills

If you have a skill, you need to get the certification so that the people in the industry can know it.This certification will easily increase your career opportunities, help you in becoming relevant to the company, and make you stand out from the crowd.

3. Greatcareer opportunities

Certified individuals usually get more career opportunities than their non-certified colleagues. The companies that require candidates with the knowledge of agile methodologies will be open for you. Additionally, you will have better promotion opportunities in the organization that you are actually working in.

4. The organization also benefits

PMI-ACP certificationis not only beneficial for the candidates but it also beneficial for the organizations.Adopting a new methodology can be a really big decision for any organization, and you as a certified professional can give them the confidence that their company is in the right hands. The appropriate agile methodology knowledge can reduce the costs and bring the profitfor your organization.

5. A pass to the league of professionals

With PMI-ACP, you can work side by side with real professionals, learn from them, and support your peers. Understand the professional vocabulary and learn the secrets of agile methodology. The more knowledge you gain, the more it will be helpful in building a successful business. You can enter a global Project Management community where you can ask for advice, share your achievements and ideas, and read expert articles from seasoned professionals.

6. Get bigger and better projects

PMI-ACP certification will help you in getting into projects that are bigger and much more important for your company. The reason is simple – the more experienced you are – the more complicated tasks you can perform. This, in turn, leads to faster career growth.Your clients will also recognize your potential and will recommend you for bigger and better projects.

7. Valid in many countries around the world

PMI-ACP certificationis valid in a number of counties. You can apply for this credentialalmost from anywhere in the world and you can pass your certification exam in English,Japanese, Arabic, Portuguese, Korean, and Spanishlanguages. Once you have the certification, you can apply in any of the organizations that require PMI-ACP credential. This certification is nothing but an investment for your present as well as your future.

8. Assist your organization in adopting agile methodology

The management teams are usually skeptic about adopting new methodologies in the business. However, with your presence, they will be able to become confident since you have enough knowledge and can help them in adopting agile methodologies that will enhance the business.

Conclusion

As a final word, we would like tostress that you must use only quality materials while preparing for your PMI-ACP exam. There are both official and non-official resources for PMI-ACP, and we recommend you to use PMI-approved literature and reliable practice test sources. Now you know the main advantages of being PMI-ACP certified, so we wish you good luck with your credential exams!

This is an article provided by our partners network. It might not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of our editorial team and management.Contributed content

As realisation of the importance of doing business ethically is growing, this too is spreading to the marketing domain, and to digital marketers. Digital marketing has brought many new and innovative ways to market to potential and existing customers. Evidencing this, almost 4,000 (3,800) marketing technology tools are now available to marketers. These are increasingly capable and can gather a good deal of information from customers. This, among other drivers has led to a growing need for ethics in digital marketing. In Part 1 of our little guide to ethics in digital marketing we will consider how ethics now has a role, and ethical questions that have arisen in recent years, relating to digital marketing.

Protecting Customer’s Privacy

The opportunities that digital marketing brings for understanding and learning about customers are tremendous, but these bring with it responsibilities. In particular, there is a need to avoid becoming too intrusive with marketing, and to find a line between helping the business to grow while not behaving unethically towards customers. Privacy is the key here. While most people working in positions of responsibility in marketing will understand regulations around privacy and will adhere to them, there are also ethical decisions to be made, especially if the company wants to retain the consumer’s trust.

Trust

One challenge with some of the new marketing tools available to digital marketers is that it is all too easy to erode consumer trust, even without meaning to do so. If the company fails to deliver, then the trust of the consumer will be negatively impacted. In the past, ethical dilemmas were perhaps more straightforward. Companies were found to have been unethical when they said their product was something it wasn’t. However, going too far is much easier with marketing technology tools available today. To provide an example, apps can track where people go each day and collect data on that – even when the app does not really have a clear reason for doing so – such as in the example of a simple games app. If consumers were aware of this type of activity, they would find it unpleasant and trust would be reduced. They would likely consider the activity unethical.

Companies claim that they collect this type of data so they are able to improve their products. They may say that the right to do so is in their terms and conditions. In many cases such information is unwieldy or very hard to find for a consumer. Thus, consumers may be giving rights unwittingly, and companies using customer data in this way can be seen as unethical, as this oversteps what might be considered “reasonable” .

There are plenty of examples of unethical digital marketing that have already been brought to light as a result of these sorts of questionable activities. One shining example of this has been the use of Facebook by unethical companies to spread what has become known as “fake news”. Reports have stated that this has had an impact on election outcomes in both the USA and the UK. Meanwhile, Facebook claims to be all about helping people share information with each other and interact, but in reality, it is a big old marketing tool, with its users’ data sold to its paying advertisers. Twitter isn’t much better either. It does not provide transparency over how it sells user data to advertisers.

Big Data and AI

The challenges of digital marketing ethics are only becoming more accentuated as technology advances apace. Big data is bringing even more customer data to marketers. That aside, there are tools that are coming soon that will be able to see customer’s facial responses to advertisements, which takes gathering customer data to a whole new level of intrusion. Companies must request permission to the webcam for this to occur, but it is easy to see how this could happen without the customer realising what they have agreed to.

While some might argue that it is “obvious” what is ethical and what is not in digital marketing, there is no clear guidelines that enables people to understand this. In part 2 of our little guide to ethics in digital marketing we will provide some points to consider that help address this gap, examining areas such as social media marketing and email marketing, among others.

Step 1: Form a Risk Management Team

You might be a cybersecurity guru, but you are not supreme. It’s important that you form partnerships within the organization to give you better insight when it comes to the risk profile of the organization. Each department utilizes different platforms. You may know a thing or two about the platforms, but working with a team, allows you to easily communicate risk as well as ensure you achieve a holistic analysis.

At the minimum, your team should consist of:

Manager for every business line to handle the entire data across the enterprise

Senior management to prove oversight

Chief information security officer to have a thorough review of the network’s architecture

Product manager to help ensure product security during the development cycle

The risk-based strategy begins with understanding business objectives and aligning them to your security goals. This calls for cross-functional input.

Step 2: Catalog Information Assets

The next step is ensuring that you catalog every information asset. It’s possible that you know how your organization operates, how it collects, transfers, and stores data. But you may have no idea about all the Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) that other departments utilize.

Moreover, other departments may not realize that their Saas providers are putting their information at risk, considering that such third-party vendors are usually a significant data breach risk. In light of this, you’ll need to ask some questions so that you can understand clearly the different types of data your organization collects, transmits, and stores and any locations involved. These questions include:

What servers are responsible for receiving, transmitting and storing information?

What type of information are departments collecting?

Which databases are used to store information?

What’s the reason for transmitting the collected information?

What network is used to transmit the information?

What’s the physical location of where the information is stored?

Where are they getting the information from?

Is there any remote employee accessing the information?

How do remote employees access the information?

What devices do employees use?

What information is accessible to vendors?

What authentication techniques are used for information access?

Step 3: Assess Risk

The type of information stored is usually different. No single piece is equal. Some information is more critical to an organization than the other. Likewise, not all providers are equally secure. The moment you identify your information assets, the next step is to review the risk that the vendors and actual information pose. As yourself the following questions:

What software, networks, and systems are essential to the operations of your business?

What kind of information needs to be confidential, available or maintain integrity?

What personally identifiable information is collected, transmitted, and stored that requires to be anonymized should encryption fail?

Are there devices that have the most risk of data loss?

What’s the probability of data corruption?

What software, networks, or systems are susceptible to a data breach?

What’s the level of reputation risks that would come as a result of a data breach?

How about financial risk as a result of a data breach?

What’s risk do your face in your business operation should there be a cybersecurity event?

Is there a business continuity plan in place that will allow you to bring back your business quickly?

The process of risk assessment includes your information catalog, looking at every potential location that cybercriminals might be interested in. This means that you have to look at every detail of information, including your software, networks, systems, vendors, and devices that pose a risk. And that’s not all. You also have to analyze the impact a data breach could have on the reputation of your business, operations, continuity, and finances.

Step 4: Analyze Risk

Once you know the risks, it’s now time to analyze them. As with information, whereby not all information pieces need to be secured equally, the same case applies to risk. Some risks need to be attended to as an emergency, while others require a strategic way of approaching them. In simple words, no single risk is equal to the other. You need to keep in mind two factors. These are:

The probability of a cybercriminal accessing your information

The reputational, operational, and financial impact that a data breach can have on your business

By looking at the likelihood of information access and the effect it can have, you can now have a reasonable risk tolerance level. This means deciding on the next course of action – whether it’s to refuse, mitigate, transfer, or accept the risk.

Think of this example: a database with public information may have just a few controls to secure it, meaning it has a high risk or breach. If a cybercriminal accesses the information that’s available publicly, the impact would not be much. When it comes to the analysis, it’s possible that you will accept the risk because, even with high probability, there’s still a low impact.

Let’s now look at the other side of the coin. If you have customers’ financial information, the probability of a breach could be low, but if an event occurred, the impact would be high and devastating to your organization – bot reputational and financial. In this case, you will, therefore, consider transferring the risk by finding a provider to help you support your business goals.

Step 5: Define Security Controls

Once you identify the risks you are willing to accept, the next step is defining your security control. These include:

Vendor risk management program

Training your workforce

Implementing multifactor authentication

Putting in place password protocols

Configuring your firewall

Installing anti-ransomware and anti-malware software

Implementing in-transit and at-rest encryption

Network segregation

These might seem like a short list of the controls you should consider, but each one of them gives you a good insight on setting controls. For instance, if you have a number of security controls that will protect your infrastructure adequately, then you will need to make sure that your third-party partners align with them as part of their risk management program.

Step 6: Observe and Assess Effectiveness

As cybercriminals continue to evolve their methodologies, audits that were considered the main review mechanism for IT security for ages have been rendered ineffective. Organizations have to step up and come up with a risk management program that continuously monitors the IT environment for any new threats. Your risk analysis process has to be flexible so that it can adequately adjust to new threats.

Enabling Risk Process

You can use a system that lets you define your priorities so that everyone understands what they are needed to do and when to do it. This helps you to review the outstanding tasks as well as the completed ones more quickly.

Good software will be able to assign tasks to various people in your organizations who are responsible for risk assessment, analysis, and mitigation. Its audit capabilities will also allow you to record remediation activities as proof that you were able to maintain data confidentiality, availability, and integrity as the law requires you.

Author Bio

Ken Lynch

Ken Lynch is an enterprise software startup veteran, who has always been fascinated about what drives workers to work and how to make work more engaging. Ken founded Reciprocity to pursue just that. He has propelled Reciprocity’s success with this mission-based goal of engaging employees with the governance, risk, and compliance goals of their company in order to create more socially minded corporate citizens. Ken earned his BS in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from MIT. You can learn more at ReciprocityLabs.com.

This is an article provided by our partners network. It might not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of our editorial team and management.Contributed content

Comics have ignited the imagination of generations of kids (and adults). Retelling one more time, the same old archetypal stories of heroes fighting evil and bad people, the eternal fight for justice, and the sweet details of romance, comics and related merchandise have grown tremendously in popularity in recent years.

It may even be argued that comics are now mainstream, having transformed from a situation of being a niche in the not so recent past – and Koozai presents that exact argument. The major players driving this trend are explained to be Marvel and DC creators of well-known super heroes such as Spiderman and Batman. The growth of Netflix may also be argued to be a contributory factor, with numerous series that originated as comics now being shown as full TV series. There is thought to be much that business can learn from this, and particularly from a marketing perspective.

Importantly, these companies have built themselves up on the basis of great content. They started with a small collection of characters and over time, these have built up, with various iterations and spin-offs. They have moved from comics into books, and also into TV, and associated merchandise too.

The Golden Key? Storytelling

Key to all of this has been developing really good storytelling. This is the case whether you read a comic about one of the better-known characters or one of the more recent additions. The story is broad, and the back story is considered too. There is plenty of opportunities to build on the story. People enjoy learning more about the characters and stay engaged as they deal with new challenges and overcome them. These are rules that can also easily be applied to content marketing at any business. If the story is compelling then people will remain engaged and want to know more – it is as simple as that.

Image source Marketoonist

What are the other lessons that can be learned from comics for marketing? Well, finding ways to keep the reader drawn in are important. Interactivity can certainly be helpful in this regard. Good storytelling abilities are critical in achieving this. The messages can also be portrayed actually in comics – after all, why not? Indeed, a number of key individuals from the comic industry have become producers and editors.

Creating Your Own Comics

In the past, the “Why not use comics for marketing?” question may very well have been shot down in flames rather quickly due to a lack of talent or capability within the firm. This problem is also being overcome, thanks to the internet. There are now a number of free websites that you can use to create your own comics. Thus, not having illustration skills is no longer a barrier to utilising this tool in marketing. There are a range of websites out there that can help. There are some for those that are focused on artistry as well as those that want to be funny but care somewhat less about the quality of the drawing. Either way, these sites are a great help in allowing the development of a comic strip quite simply.

For example, one option is MakeBeliefsComix.com is very simple to use – in fact, it is so simple that children can use it. There are more than 20 characters to choose from and there is the capability of building comic strips of different sizes (two to four panels). The fact that children can use it does not mean that its use is just for children – rather, it is very useful for adults too in portraying a message. Characters can have different expressions, and the whole process takes only around 10 minutes. ToonDoo is another option that is very simple to use, but from which good results can be generated. There are a lot of characters and objects to select from, and a personal touch can be created within the comic.

Screenshot: Pixton

Strip Generator is yet another comic creation website. This website is not so flexible in that it is difficult to put across a personal style, but the system is quite well suited to comedy. At the other end of the spectrum, Pixton is well suited to those with artistic ability, as there is a great deal of customisation possible. Emotions can even be customised for different characters, which brings this site somewhat ahead of other comic creation websites.

Why not give some of these websites a try, and perk up your digital marketing activity with fun and engaging comics?

Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms. As of the middle of 2018, the platform had one billion active monthly users. Reports show it to be the “second most popular social media platform after Facebook”. The social media site is used by a third of internet users in the USA. Importantly, the platform is believed to be very engaging, with more interactions per post seen than on Facebook or many other platforms.

The popularity of this social media platform has led to many companies considering how they can utilise it for marketing purposes. In particular, many organisations have considered efforts to run Instagram influencer marketing campaigns.

What is the role of the influencer in digital marketing? Writing for Single Grain, Raghav Haran mentions how “Influencer marketing is a type of word-of-mouth marketing that focuses on using key leaders to drive your brand’s message to the larger market…. Rather than marketing directly to a large group of consumers, you instead pay influencers to get out the word for you.”

In this little guide, we provide some tips on how Instagram influencer marketing campaigns can best be executed for optimal impact.

Planning Costs

One of the first factors to consider when planning an Instagram influencer campaign is cost, and how much budget you have. Influencer marketing is not always as expensive as other types of campaigns, but in some cases, it is more expensive than others. One important point to note is that influencers will charge more when they have more followers.

When considering to initiate a Instagram infuencer campaign, to have a general guideline of costs is important. If you are working with an influencer with more than one million followers, you may be looking at spending almost $1.5K per post, while those with less than 2,000 followers typically charge approximately $125 per post. There are also price differences by sector that you are working in. The most expensive influencers to work with are those in the travel field, with entertainment influencers also being among the more pricey, and home and lifestyle influencers in third place, cost wise.

Costs for travel influencer posts are typically around $220, while entertainment posts come in at around $209, and home and lifestyle at $204. Having a good comprehension of these costs is helpful because this enables planning of what you can afford, and how many influencers you might work with.

Influencers Instagram

How to choose the right influencers?

Once your budget is all planned out, another step in planning your Instagram influencer campaign is working out which influencers to work with. This is not straightforward at all, but it is obviously critical, as it will impact on the exposure you get. The major consideration will be area of influence. The influencer must have some relevance to what you do, and must have a noteworthy ability to engage others. While pinpointing these individuals is not easy, there are some tips that can help.

For example, finding people that have created content with which your product is aligned is helpful. You could search for these using a branded hashtag. For those without a well-established brand, searching for different appropriate hashtags may be a good way of finding the best influencers to work with.

Another step you might want to take to identify the right influencers is to use influencer marketing tools. Some tools that may come in handy for this are BuzzWeb, Influence.co, Ninja Outreach and BuzzSumo. These tools are helpful because you can search for influencers by category or by various keywords. One of the best options of those mentioned is Influence.co, not least because it won’t cost you anything to utilise it. However, it is also good in terms of search filters, which include location, category and number of followers.

Designing your Campaign

You will then need to decide on the type of campaign that you plan to run with your Instagram influencer/s. One good option that is quite engaging is a competition. This can be set up by sending the influencer free samples, and then they run the contest. Another good and straightforward option is having influencers review your products. The reviews created should be honest, however, to ensure trust is driven for your brand. You could consider having influencers as brand representatives as well. You could also run sponsored posts – whereby the influencer actually develops the content for your company. Yet another option is talking about influencers in your own content.

Evaluating the campaign

Finally, with your Instagram influencer campaign underway, it is essential to monitor how it is going and evaluate how successful the campaign was. That way you can learn from your achievements and failures, to improve future campaigns.

The utility of digital storage has changed how we used to work. It’s convenient and secure, but what if your storage device gets corrupted? You can’t afford to lose your data, right? Memory cards are convenient and secure, but they can get corrupted. To make sure you don’t lose your data if it happens, consider the following guidelines.

1. Connect the Card to Another Device

The device might not be able to read your card thanks to some incompatibility issue or driver problem. If you are doubtful, then you better connect your card with some other device.

Try Command Prompt

This is a safe option. You need to open a Command prompt and enter “chkdsk” and the drive letter and connect the affected card with your system

Click on the “Start” option in the taskbar and choose “Computer.”

Search for the SD card beneath Removable Storage device and see the assigned drive letter, add this letter in command promote and run check disk with the given command, make sure you run the command prompt as administrator

Once you enter the command, the application will check for every possible error and fix the corrupt card

Check the assigned driver letter to SD card and assure every file has been recovered

2. Assign a New Letter to the Card

You have to connect the card to the PC. If the system doesn’t assign a new letter itself, then it means the card is not being read. The reader might be assigned to a drive letter. But you will get the message, peace insert disk into the drive. This shows that your system is not reading the card. So, you need to assign a new letter to the card in your operating system settings.

You have to connect the card to the PC. If the system doesn’t assign a new letter itself, then it means the card is not being read.

3. Try a Built-in Solution

If you need Recovery Files from SD Card, then you need to try an in-built solution to restore deleted files from SD Card. You have to right clock on the drive letter and choose “Properties.” See the used and unused space on the card.

If you are unable to see this information, then it means that all the files were deleted or erased. So, try and find an in-built solution from the card. It might help you restore your files without an issue. If the built in doesn’t help, then try a professional solution. iSkySoft is an excellent data recovery tool made for iPhone users. It has simple and impressive process with clear navigation. The toolbox or suit offers you detailed guides wherever you need. Its compatible with all the latest iPhone models.

4. Format SD Card

If the system can read all files but is unable to save them, then your card has a rite protected mode. You need to unlock this protection switch to save or modify files on the card.

If you still can’t touch the files, then your files must be lost or are inaccessible. You can fix it with the Disk Diagnostic Tool; it works for memory cards as well. Format the card, you will lose everything but don’t worry it’s a part of the process.

Once the format is completed, you have to install an SD Card Recovery Software. Yes, install a third-party recovery system to get your files. This is sort of your last resort; if nothing else works, you need recovery software to recover your files. It’s a proven way to fix your SD card should it become inaccessible or formatted.

This is an article provided by our partners network. It might not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of our editorial team and management.Contributed content

If you’re looking to buy or sell a used vehicle, a valuation can prove extremely useful. Looking into numerous factors, valuations offer a unique insight into the current value of the vehicle.

Not sure what to expect from the valuation process? Here, you’ll discover which factors affect vehicle valuations.

Mileage and condition

One of the main factors which impacts a car’s valuation is mileage. How many miles a vehicle has clocked up can make a significant difference to how much the car can be sold for. The fewer the miles the car has done, the better value it’s going to offer.

The average mileage clocked up is between 12,000 to 15,000 miles a year. So, if the vehicle has done less than 12,000 miles it will be considered low-mileage. A vehicle which has done over 15,000 miles in a year will be considered high-mileage.

Similarly, the condition of the vehicle will play a large role in its valuation. Has it been well-looked after? If there have been any modifications added to the vehicle then this can also reduce its value, such as alloy wheels and a new stereo system.

Current market value

Another thing that a valuation looks at is current market value. If the model is in high demand, it’s going to bring a much higher value than a model which isn’t as popular. The state of the economy is also going to have an impact on current prices, as will the colour of the vehicle.

Service history

One of the most important factors a valuation from a company such as CAP HPI looks into, is the service history of the vehicle. How well has the vehicle been maintained and has it had any major repair work done to it? The MOT history will also show whether there have been any issues which could impact the resale value of the car.

How many owners the car has had

Finally, how many owners the car has had will also play a role in the figures determined by the valuation. The less owners the car has had, the higher its resale value is going to be. If it’s been passed on to many different owners, it’s going to negatively impact the valuation results.

These are just some of the factors that influence a valuation. An important thing to remember too is that different companies may produce differing valuations. This is because some companies have access to higher levels of data than others. So, they can give a more comprehensive, and therefore more accurate valuation. For this reason, you should always make sure you’re getting a valuation from a reliable and well-known provider.

This is an article provided by our partners network. It might not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of our editorial team and management.Contributed content

You might not have ever heard his name, but Kevin Kelly has been considered by some a modern-day prophet. He is an important influencer who has shaped the world and the way we think, and he has authored some books about the future too. Kevin Kelly is now in his 60s, but during his career, his influence has included being part of The Well. This was an early forum online. He also worked with a co-founder to develop Wired magazine, being one of his most known ambassadors. and he still writes for this outlet too. He has developed a depth of knowledge regarding the influence of technology which makes for interesting and compelling reading.

So what does Kelly prophesize, exactly? Well, he argues that the future will be better than the present. This will be achieved by leveraging technology, ensuring that the benefits can be gained from, while also focusing on minimising any detrimental impacts. He believes that it will be difficult to stop technology, so it is best to work with it to drive the most positive outcomes. There is the potential for technology to create difficult problems in society, but Kelly believes these can be overcome. Interestingly in his own home, Kevin Kelly has not been a particularly early adopter of new technology, and technology is not a focus at his house.

quote by Kevin Kelly

Looking at more specifics, Kevin Kelly suggests that some types of technology are more likely to be with us by 2050 than others. He argues that while flying cars will not come about by then, we will most probably have self-driving cars by that point. He is also of the firm belief that virtual reality will be well developed by then. Artificial intelligence and virtual reality together will build a greater opportunity for more and different experiences. However, he is realistic and also suggests that there will be a lot of “crap” produced along the way. Meanwhile, the ways in which we earn a living may change, with automation taking over in some cases. Of course, this is already happening.

12 Technological Forces

Kelly’s book, “Inevitable” outlines 12 technological forces that he believes will shape our future. It is helpful to understand these forces to see how he sees our future panning out. One of the forces is Becoming. What is meant by this is that change is continual and we will be repeatedly learning new things. Another is Cognifying. By this, Kelly means the role that artificial intelligence will play in our lives. Artificial intelligence will be “everywhere and in everything” impacting on how things operate and how we interact with them. Flowing is a third force, and this refers to the way in which information will move about, while Screening is another force that is indicative of the importance of our screens and the amount that we will interact with them. Accessing is yet another force, and this describes the way that we will not necessarily have to own things to use them – this trend is seen with Spotify and Kindle Prime among others.

quote by Kevin Kelly

The sixth force Kelly writes about is Sharing – and this is also already very clearly underway, with the Sharing Economy growing and evolving. Filtering will also be a key force, so that we can access what we need, rather than being bombarded with everything. Remixing is linked to this in some ways, as it refers to customisation and unbundling. Interacting is a further force, and we can increasingly expect items to respond to us. The force of Tracking is already been clearly felt by many, and it is in reference to our data. The final two forces are questioning – questions that come out of the trends described – and beginning, which refers to the new systems and economy that will likely emerge. The book is considered an important guide for product development in business, as well as for other areas.

quote by Kevin Kelly

For those with an interest in learning more about Kevin Kelly and his interesting views about the future, there is a good podcast available on this topic. In addition, you might read one of his books, maybe The Inevitable (published 2016), or What Technology Wants (published 2010), since both of which are an engaging read with some fascinating ideas within them.

Paris has announced its plans to become the sustainable capital of fashion by the year 2024.

Society has been changing, and with it, fashion too. In recent years, the fashion industry has changed tremendously, driven by trends of instant gratification. While in the past consumers were interested in labels and quality, now it is more likely that the price of such items will be off putting to consumers. This has driven a desire for fashionable items to be available quickly. The time from the catwalk to styles appearing in fashion retailers has dropped considerably. This trend intensified during the first decade of the 21st century. The result has been retailers that are focused on a very fast manufacturing speed so that items can be in the shops quickly, to please consumers. While this trend, known as “fast fashion” has been very beneficial for consumers, it is questionable whether it can be sustainable.

sustainable fashion

Reports have increasingly been showing that fast fashion has problems with sustainability. The impacts have been felt in particular on the quality of water, as well as in terms of waste. Consumers are increasingly becoming aware that fashion is damaging the environment. In particular, the dyeing of textiles in the production of apparel is known to be the second biggest polluter of water worldwide, second only to agriculture. Some of the toxins are carcinogenic in this process. Additionally, the increased production of polyester has led to an increase of microfibres passing from washing machines and eventually ending up in seas worldwide.

These microfibres cannot biodegrade and they impact negatively on marine life. They also get into our own food chain, as fish end up eating them, and when we eat fish they are passed into our systems. There are also problems with pesticides that are used on crops that go into the production of fashion items. Finally, waste is also a major problem, as trends in the fashion industry have resulted in an idea that clothes do not need to be kept or worn as long as in the past. Indeed, industry research has shown that more than 50% of fast fashion apparel purchased is binned in less than 12 months.

While the fashion industry is doubtless having a negative impact on the environment overall, it is starting to wake up to these problems. Industry leaders are aware that while consumers are not calling for change at the moment, they are likely to do so in the very near future – and that time may only be a year or two away. This has led to the industry starting to consider more what it is doing, and some major players starting to look at how to build in an increased level of sustainability.

Paris, one of the leading cities of the fashion industry is leading the way in this regard. Recently, Paris has announced its plans to become the sustainable capital of fashion by the year 2024. Specifically, the five year plan that it has put in place is called “Paris Good Fashion” and it is trying to encourage major industry players to move more towards eco-friendly practices. The work is based around the idea of an open community that brings together various experts in the field, along with professionals, brands and designers to develop a detailed plan of the steps that need to be taken to achieve the lofty goal. A roadmap for Paris to become the sustainable capital of fashion is currently under production, with a goal of launching this in June. The plan emphasises the circular economy, looking at areas such as sourcing and traceability. It focuses on ways in which distribution and energy use can become more sustainable in this industry.

It is hoped that by introducing such a plan, a new way forward can be developed for fashion. Within a five year timeframe this is not unrealistic. It is not insignificant that the year of completion of the plan has been proposed as 2024. This is a big year for Paris, as it will also be hosting the Olympic Games in 2024. There is no doubt that the fashion industry must become more sustainable, in order to protect our Earth. Hopefully, by Paris becoming the self-named sustainable capital of fashion, other industry players will sit up and take note, starting to take the problem more seriously.

Have you been contemplating a venture into the lucrative world of online retail sales? If so, you will first need to create a quality website that is able to attract customers to what it is that you have to offer. However, many individuals are concerned that this process will cost an inordinate amount of money. The good news is that there are several services which will negate the factor of cost thanks to their innate sense of flexibility. What goes into a quality website builder and what features should you expect to encounter? Let us take a look at one of the most impressive platforms in the business today as well as what tools serve to separate it apart from competitors.

All About Clarity and Insight

One of the most frustrating issues such many sub-par e-commerce platforms is that their architecture automatically assumes that the user has previous experience with coding and similarly complicated issues. This can be quite problematic if you do not wish to devote a significant amount of time to learning such intricacies. This is also why the most effective platforms boast a user-friendly nature which is easy to interpret and modify if necessary.

The associated tools should be just as easy to use. Whether referring to multi-channel marketing services, payment gateways or storefronts, the fact of the matter is that a streamline nature will help to ensure that your website is up and running in no time at all. Furthermore, you can detect any issues or mistakes as they occur; saving valuable time and eliminating the possibility of lost revenue. The bottom line is that any e-commerce platform needs to be able to end user clarity and insight so that the appropriate actions can be taken when the time is right.

Agile and Dynamic

Why are a growing number of entrepreneurs choosing to utilise the tools and services provided by Shopify? One of the main reasons involves the user-friendly characteristics mentioned above and yet, these are only the beginning of what you can expect to leverage. You will be provided with several other amenities including (but not limited to):

An advance CMS (content management system).

Unfettered control over CSS and HTML coding.

Secure payment gateways that accept multiple forms of currency.

Reliable order fulfilment

Enhanced stock and inventory management

Furthermore, all of these features can be accessed from within a centralised dashboard; enabling you to maintain full control over the actions of your firm at all times. In the event that an issue is discovered or should you have a question, customer service representatives are available 24 hours a day and seven days a week.

It is clear to see that starting a website from scratch has never been easier. On a final note, you can enjoy a 14-day free trial period before making a purchase. There is simply no reason to pass up on such an offer, so take a further look today.

This is an article provided by our partners network. It might not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of our editorial team and management.

The SWOT guide to blockchain is a guide in 6 parts, where both the opportunities and challenges of blockchain are considered. Blockchain has the potential to be groundbreaking, offering opportunities and better solutions for a range of situations and industries worldwide. In the sixth part of this guide, we analyze the most important weakness of blockchain technology in our opinion: its consumption of energy. We also demonstrate how such a weakness can be transformed into a strength, if innovation is triggered in the blockchain community, towards finding sustainable and ecological alternatives of blockchain solutions.

By Maria Fonseca and Paula Newton

Bitcoin And The Environment

Increasingly, concerns about blockchain’s impact on the environment are rising to the fore. In 2018 it was reported that bitcoin uses the same amount of carbon dioxide in a year, as one million flights crossing the Atlantic. This cannot be ignored. The use of electricity to drive bitcoin is tremendous. Further statistics have emerged that have accentuated the point. For example, it was argued that in one month alone, the use of electricity by the bitcoin network was greater than that used by the whole of the Republic of Ireland. Since that time (November 2017) the use of electricity by bitcoin has only grown further. For anyone with even a moderate passing interest in the environment, this is of concern.

The whole bitcoin system is built around the use of electricity. Mining, using electricity, needs to occur for the system to operate. When miners are able to mine faster and more effectively – using more electricity through more powerful machines – the higher the chances re that a miner will get the biggest reward. Everyone is motivated to use more electricity to gain the highest rewards. The bigger the system gets, the more electricity is burned to support it. Estimates show that if the price of bitcoin rose to $50,000, electricity consumption would increase by ten times – which is clearly tremendous. Some believe this is not a major concern since bitcoin will not achieve such a value (though this is arguable) and due to the fact that it is likely that technology will be developed that allows mining that is more energy efficient. Indeed, mining computers have already increased in efficiency over time. Yet it is impossible to rule out ongoing and continual increases in demand for energy use, making blockchain an environmental concern for many.

But it isn’t all bad news in so far as the environment is concerned. Other industry analysts suggest that green cryptocurrencies could have a part to play. While to date, buying environmentally friendly items has generally been equated to paying more for them, changes are afoot with the rise of green cryptocurrencies. It is thought that such cryptocurrencies will be beneficial in terms of offering benefits for people making greener purchases, as well as driving innovation. The way that green cryptocurrencies work is that blockchain has the ability to track and monitor environmental performance by business or individuals. This can be saved and embedded into the system, and those that are more effective in this regard can be rewarded. On the other hand, consumers will be able to have increased confidence that green really means green.

2019: And Still Waiting for Green Cryptocurrencies

It was predicted that in 2018 green cryptocurrencies would start to have their day, based on environmental data built into blockchain. Energy companies were in some cases carrying out pilots for peer-to-peer energy transactions and platforms, used for trading. However, some benefits of energy savings have been found to lead to a so-called “rebound effect” where the benefits gleaned are offset by the fact that environmentally unfriendly behaviour occurs with the savings made that would otherwise be spent on energy. To counteract this, green cryptocurrencies could be built in such a way that would ensure that the benefits gained could only be offset against payments for green products and services.

While these innovations are welcomed and likely to be very positive in terms of environmental benefits, this does not change the fact that cryptocurrencies and mining in the way that the system is structured at the moment is damaging to the environment. It is not clear the extent to which green cryptocurrencies would in themselves use electricity that would offset the benefits gained from them. Overall, further innovation is required to ensure that mining technology improves to reduce the gigantic electricity used through undertaking these processes.

The SWOT Guide To Blockchain Part 6 Intelligenthq

In What Ways Could Blockchain Support the Environment?

Blockchain, is more then cryptocurrencies though. It is also a way to develop softwares that are safer and theoretically distributed, as we have seen in other sections of this guide. How then, could Blockchain tech support the environment in. FutureThinkers have compiled the following practical examples that give readers a better picture of practical ways through which this technology could be used:

Blockchain can be used to track environmental compliance and the impact of Treaties — decreasing fraud and manipulation.

Donations to charities can be tracked to ensure that they are being attributed efficiently and as planned.

Products can be tracked from origin to source. This can help reduce carbon footprints, increase ethical accountability and reduce unsustainable practices.

Schemes such as recycling can be incentivised by offering token rewards to participants.

Peer to peer localised energy distribution is possible, rather than the current system of a centralised hub.

Blockchain can also be used to track the carbon footprint of products, which can then determine the amount of carbon tax to be charged.

Conclusion

Over this comprehensive SWOT analyses of Blockchain, we have described the challenges, strengths, opportunities, and weaknesses of Blockchain. One thing is certain, blockchain tech is here to stay. We live in a world increasingly digitized and interconnected, and with the rise of the Internet of Things, blockchain tech, due to its focus on trust, accountability and its distributed character, might be the perfect technology to structure the global digital networks of the future.

One cannot forget though, that there are also various problems and weaknesses that need to be tackled. And one cannot either, just take at face value, that this technology is better and fairer, just because it’s disruptive.

Solutions will certainly appear along the way, as more people experiment with putting into practice its theoretical concepts. Our hope is that blockchain will have positive implications for the implementation of a fairer and more sustainable circular economy, that will better tackle environmental issues, inequality and other problems of our current broken system. In order for that to happen, calls for, from all of us, a high doses of attention to detail, and critical reasoning, while examining this technology. Only by actively speaking out what is going astray from its initial promises, and acting quickly to correct and prevent problems, can we build a system, eventually built with blockchain, that will provide us with a more connected and beautiful world.

Ideally, you’re looking for a long-term business relationship when you decide on a web hosting company to power your website. Therefore, making sure that the web host meets your needs is an absolute necessity; otherwise, you may find yourself jumping ship before you know it. To make your task easier, we’ve prepared a list of 6 questions you should be asking your web host before making the final decision:

1. Is the customer support responsive?

When it comes to hosting, customer support that responds in a timely manner is everything. Even though you may be an experienced webmaster, things can go wrong in the middle of the night, and when that happens, it’s imperative that the customer support resolves the issue as soon as possible. A single minute of downtime could very well be the difference between gaining or losing a high-profile customer, which is something that you can’t afford as a business owner – ever.

2. What is your backup policy?

While requesting backups every single hour is probably overdoing it, you should at least make sure the web host makes an automatic backup every day (note that some of them may charge you extra for the service). That way, you can simply restore your website to the previous version if malware messes things up or if you’d like to restore it for any other reason.

3. How many websites are on the same shared hosting plan?

Shared hosting is a cost-effective way to get your feet wet in the world of web development, but as you might have guessed, it does come with its own set of drawbacks. Generally speaking, you can expect your website to perform much worse if the server is overloaded.

4. What kind of uptime can I expect?

Nowadays, anything less than 99% uptime is considered a no-no. Since you never know when an important potential customer may visit your website, you should strive for it to be available at all times.

5. Will I get locked into a contract?

If you aren’t quite sure how long your business will stick around, don’t get locked in a 1-year-plus contract. Try to look for a web hosting provider that allows for monthly billing and doesn’t enforce a contractual relationship, so you can get out at any time if the need arises.

6. Does the hosting come with one-click-install scripts?

If you’re not particularly tech-savvy or don’t have a developer on board, one-click-install scripts can truly make life much easier. They work by asking you for some basic variables such as the installation path and the blog name (if you were to install a WordPress blog, for example), and everything else gets handled by the installer script.

Conclusion

Picking the right host as well as the correct hosting package for your needs may be one of the most important business decisions you can make, especially if the majority of it is being run online. Whenever in doubt, check the provider’s customer reviews and social media pages to get an in-depth look at how they treat their customers and see how reliable they are.

Data backup is essential in a company. It is the only way you can be assured of continuity even when disaster strikes. Therefore, having a data backup strategy that is effective is called for. Data backup serves as an insurance policy, should anything go wrong you can still be able to resume to normalcy.

When backing up your data, you should put the following into consideration.

1. Testing your backup

The only way to know if your MySQL backup has worked is by testing it. You need to check your backup from time to time to ensure that your backup is intact. It could be very disappointing if you attempted a data recovery only to find that all the files you backed up have been corrupted. Do not wait until when things go wrong. It is always advisable to check from time to time and see if they are working correctly. With that, you will be able to identify any issues with the backup before it is too late.

2. Select the right medium

What is meant by this is that you should select a medium depending on your storage needs. For instance, if you have large amounts of data to store, using hard disks would be better that DVDs. Why? They can manage large data and are more reliable. You could use DVDs if you are looking for a convenient and inexpensive medium. Remember that you need first to identify what your needs are before you settle for a storage medium.

3. Schedule your back-ups for off-peak hours

Why is it advisable to do your backup during the said hours? Well, you first need to know that by off-peak hours, it means that you should conduct your backup process when people are less busy at the office. For instance, during lunch breaks or after people have left for home. Why this is emphasized is that when there is so much congestion in your network, especially if you are doing cloud backup, it could slow down the normal operations.

Also, if you are using hard drives for back up, the process is more likely to be interrupted if people are also using the same machines for work.

If you have large amounts of data to store, using hard disks would be better that DVDs

4. Security

The security of your backup is vital. Safety starts by only having an assigned group to handle the backup process. With that, if anything should happen to the data, they will be held accountable, and it will be easier for you to find answers. Also, the more the people allowed to access your data, the higher the risk of manipulation and theft.

It is also essential that you do not leave the storage devices unsecured. You should consider having them locked for you to control access. If it is a matter of passwords, you need to change them from time to time to time. For data being stored online, it is essential that you also encrypt it to prevent hackers from accessing it.

5. Audit your data

Do you have to audit your data? Yes, it is. Note that as your business grows the amount of data you handle also will increase. Eventually, you will no longer be using one server but several. It can be challenging to keep track of all the data you have. It is for this specific reason that you need to perform an audit. This is to help you ensure that no important files or information has been left out during your backup.

Also, it is essential to know where the different backups you have are. This will ease recovery at the time that you will be required to conduct it.

6. Transfer speed

You should also consider the speed of the data transfer. This includes both for backup and recovery. The faster, the better. You do not want a backup process that will take days. Sometimes you will be having multiple files to backup and also other work to do. The process should not eat into all the time you have.

You should also consider the speed of the data transfer. This includes both for backup and recovery. The faster, the better.

7. Consider splitting your backup locations

This is the part where you apply the 3-2-1 technique. What this means is that you should have three copies of your data. Two of the copies should be stored in different mediums to be stored on site while the remaining one gets to be stored offsite. The catch is that this strategy will eliminate the single point of failure. If anything happens to one onsite backup, you will have two copies of the data left.

8. Prioritize your backup

There is data that you deem to be more critical than others. With that in mind, you need to ensure that the vital data is backed up first then do a backup for the rest. This is to provide that you have enough room for the critical information before you make room for the rest of the data.

9. Create standard file names

This will also help you with the backup audits. It would be much easier for you to retrieve data if it was organized. Avoid putting all files in a general folder. Note that if disaster strikes, you want to resume normal operations within the shortest time possible. If your data is disorganized, you will have a hard time doing that. It will take you time to find the correct data hence increasing the downtime.

The factors above will go a long way in ensuring that your backup process is efficient and effective. Put them into consideration as you do your backup.

This is an article provided by our partners network. It might not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of our editorial team and management.

The Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) is a new structure of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) which has been marketed recently as Blockchain 3.0. It holds immense possibility for the future of DLT, solving many key issues associated with Blockchain and providing the platform for speedy transactions that could challenge the likes of Visa.

1 What is a DAG?

DAG technology is comprised of two fundamental concepts – its “directed” nature which means that the graph has direction, so that moving from node 1 to node 2 is not the same as moving from node 2 to node 1, and its “acyclic” nature making it impossible, starting from a particular node, to find a path back to that same node while following the direction of the system. This structure allows us to create a system that can run several transaction validations side by side without the fear that one transaction will end up being an ancestor of itself through a cycle. It works in the following way: in order to submit a transaction, a submitting party has to validate two previous transactions; in consequence bringing together the role of submission and validation and removing the need for miners and blocks. This allows for a system where throughput is massively increased; some companies claim to be able to surpass the 10,000 transactions per second (TPS) benchmark, a sharp increase compared to Ethereum’s 15 TPS. In the particular case of COTI, a company that has produced a DAG they called the “Trustchain” which aims to operate mainly in the currency market, the company claims that 10,000TPS is their minimum target, suggesting they could even surpass Visa’s 25,000TPS. This new technology has been touted as Blockchain 3.0. Blockchain commentators state that it is the next incarnation of the famous fintech, since its first use in Bitcoin and its subsequent improvement with Ethereum. It is clear, however, that this technology is too different from Blockchain to be called its next incarnation, since it lacks so many fundamental aspects of a blockchain (notably blocks which miners validate). This is an entirely different type of DLT, one which will service a different market than traditional blockchains. From a currency point of view, DAGs will be able to offer the same level of convenience as Visa does for day to day transactions, which could finally enable the use of DLT by individuals for small value, high frequency transactions. The prospects of such a facility could be incredible, especially in emerging markets with struggling economies, such as Zimbabwe, where the population could embrace the option of using a stablecoin to shop for their basic needs. It may still be too early to make claims such as the following one, but from a tax regulation point of view, we could begin to draw a line between types of cryptocurrencies being classified as income or capital. In the UK, Courts use the Badges of Trade as guidelines to consider whether something is an “adventure in the nature of trade” or an investment. As cryptocurrencies go down two distinct paths offered by Blockchains and DAGs, it is entirely possible that the use of DAG based cryptocurrencies will evolve to fulfil the short-term nature of trade as seen in the badges, and the Blockchain based ones will become assets. Like Blockchain, DAGs can also be used for purposes outside of cryptocurrency. Companies such as IOTA are developing their DAGs for the purpose of catering to the high throughput needs of Internet Of Things (IOT) projects, which is the main sector they aim to operate in alongside currencies. These kinds of high transaction frequency projects will be perfect for DAGs; it is clear however that other endeavours spanning the likes of voting mechanisms and credit history validations will require the more secure, high fidelity offerings of blockchain.

2. Explanation of the drawbacks of DAG

DAG is far from perfect. As mentioned previously, the trade-off for a massively increased throughput is a decrease in security, with some DAGs such as IOTA’s Tangle only requiring assailants to mount a 34% attack on the system to be successful. The ability of an attacker to acquire the resources for carrying out this task out depends on the scale of the system. With Blockchain, the incentive for not attacking a system was that it would be make economic sense to use the 51% required to successfully attack the system to mine blocks. This is because the currency reward for solving a block would grant the would-be attacker far more value than an attack would. With DAGs, the incentive for validating two previous transactions is not a sum of currency, but rather the ability to put your transaction through, and therefore an attacker would not have any economic incentive not to attack the system. DAGs are also theoretically liable to double spending. Companies have developed various methods of combatting these malicious activities. One of the most convincing methods is that implemented by CyberVein which uses sharding (storing parts of the ledger’s transaction history), using the amount of voluntarily offered disk space as a “proof of contribution POC”. This is commonly used by DAGs. Then, rather than implement a centralised authority for auditing transaction, like many DAGs do, thus placing a central authority in a supposedly decentralised system, CyberVein further utilises the POC to promote nodes that store the entirety of the ledger to “full nodes”, and the state of the ledger is compared with the collective image stored in all of the full nodes. This means that an attacker would need to outcompete the entire storage capacity of the system, which would be very expensive and unrealistic. A second, less important issue with DAGs is the implementation of smart contracts. Due to the difference in nature of DAG and Blockchain, it might be hard for inexperienced coders to understand how to implement smart contracts in DAGs. These problems mainly arise due to the fact that transaction sequences may not always be linear and occur in the correct order. There are ways around this, such as using transaction collation or ordering transactions in a block lattice. For an experienced coder building a DAG, finding a way to implement smart contracts is not too tall an order. Unfortunately, some DAG projects are not entirely adapted to allow proper use of smart contracts, such as IOTA’s Tangle, which makes it difficult to implement the functionality that “Blockchain 2.0” brought to DLTs.

3. Implications of DAG

The main benefit of DAG is the increased throughput and cost efficiency due to removing miners and blocks from the system. As mentioned earlier, this could have spectacular effects on the payment industry, as cryptocurrencies can finally begin to challenge fiat currencies when it comes to the regular use of money by individuals. Companies like Visa and Mastercard will now face some real competition and provided that regulation allows the widespread use of cryptocurrencies, emerging markets will likely be the first to adopt such technology. This is because, unlike most of the developed world, many emerging market countries, especially in Africa, suffer from economic conditions that are begging for the decentralization that DLT brings. Let us consider Zimbabwe once again, a rather extreme example where the value of the official local interim currency (since the abandonment of the Zimbabwe Dollar), the Zimbabwean Bond Note, has practically no real value, and seeing the locals use cash is a rare sight. Instead, practically all payments are carried out by a company, “Ecocash” a subsidiary of the South African company “Econet” which oversees all payments through its mobile payment facility. Almost the entirety of transactions in the country pass through this mobile payment system, which demonstrates the power that “mobile money” has in a country where the banking system and the government have failed to save the local currency. A stable coin could fulfil the role of a stable, alternative currency for such a country perfectly, and thanks to DAGs, this is a real possibility. As countries such as Mauritius gear up to become fintech hubs, the possibility of DLT in the form of DAGs making a real impact on the emerging markets is an exciting one. This technology could bring stability, efficiency and, most importantly, transparency to the lives of countless hard-working Africans who have been the victims of the failures of their central banks and governments. They will be able to continue to work knowing that they will be rewarded with money that they can trust and that they can use, safe from the incompetence and corruption that has hurt them so much in the past.

Rayhan Beebeejaun is a 2nd Year Law Student at King’s College London and the Business president of the KCL Blockchain Society. He is an avid researcher of all things Fintech and is passionate about innovation and the possibilities technology presents for the future of society.

The SWOT guide to blockchain is a guide in 6 parts, where both the opportunities and challenges of blockchain are considered. Blockchain has the potential to be groundbreaking, offering opportunities and better solutions for a range of situations and industries worldwide. In the fifth part of this guide, we analyze a specific strength of blockchain technology: safety and trust… but we also explain how that strength can be misleading to the common person.

By Maria Fonseca and Paula Newton

Safety and Trust

One of the major benefits that is heavily touted around about blockchain is its safety and the fact that it can be trusted. This is worth exploring in greater detail rather than taking a blinkered and evangelical approach towards the technology. Having one’s head in the sand is risky. On the other hand, fully understanding the technology and any limitations it may have, particularly with regard to trust and safety is beneficial in developing and implementing solutions that are as beneficial as they can possibly be for society, businesses and individual consumers.

How does Blockchain secure data?

Blockchain stores data in a manner that makes it difficult for anyone to change or manipulate later. Through a complex system of mathematics, algorithms and software, blockchain systems are argued to be as secure as they can possibly be. This is important to the overall proposition and key selling point – the fact that data can be shared securely between entities that may not trust one another. However, people are people, and there will always be some who look for ways around such security, seeing it as a challenge, and focusing on the illicit rewards to be gained from doing so.

Blockchains are secure by the fact that ledgers of data are stored in many copies on various computers – considered to be nodes within the network. When a transaction is made and submitted to the ledger, this data is checked against all the nodes. Those responsible for the nodes are “miners” and they are rewarded for their adding of new blocks to the chain. The fact that there is a protocol of agreement between the nodes makes it difficult to manipulate, as is the cryptographic fingerprint (a “hash”) that each block has, and which is unique. Consensus protocol security requires checking that a hash matches its block, and nodes update once this is verified. All blocks have the unique hash of the previous block. This means the ledger must be changed for that block, and every new one, and this must be achieved quicker than new blocks get added – to avoid conflicts and rejections. It is this which makes the blockchain immutable.

Blockchain technology: How does it work? Image source: Block geeks

Is Blockchain Really Decentralized?

One characteristic of blockchain that has made it so attractive is “decentralization.” this all pertains to the idea that exact copies of the blockchain are kept on a large and widely distributed network of nodes. Since there is no central point but a network of nodes, all with the same importance, there’s no one weak point to attack. Plus, it’s almost impossible for anyone assesses enough computing power to subvert the network. But this is actually misleading… the reality, according to recent work by a team of academics, from Cornell University, is that neither Bitcoin nor Ethereum is as decentralized as you might think. Their study discovered that the top four bitcoin-mining operations had more than 53 percent of the system’s average mining capacity per week. As for Ethereum, 3 miners accounted for 61 percent.

So there you have it, what seems to be a strength, transformed into weakness.

Can you hack a blockchain system?

As expected, people have already been looking for and finding ways to cheat the system. The same research by academics at Cornell University has shown that blockchains can be subverted, even in the scenario that a person has a lower level than 50% of the mining power of the other minors. It is possible to fool the system to gain an advantage. This means the system is not necessarily as secure as originally thought. Additionally, attacks can be carried out – known as “eclipse attacks”. These occur when the attacker gains control of a node’s communications. Since all nodes need to be communicating all of the time, if the attacker can convince other nodes to accept false data as if it came from the rest of the network, fake transactions could be confirmed. Hackers have also been hacking so-called “hot wallets” where private cryptographic keys are stored. All of this leads to questions about security and trust within blockchain, and solutions need to be found to defend against these types of issues.

There is not much difference between traditional risk management and ERM. The two processes are quite similar, with the a-one-of-scope difference between them. In as much as they both try to minimize the effects of risk on a business through identification and analysis, they do so from a different view. For instance, traditional risk management is more localized and has a specific aspect of dealing with the risks that affect the business in one way or another. ERM, on the contrary, assumes a more extensive view with a broader scope on the risk factors that the company or enterprise faces.

Keeping in mind that traditional risk management assumes a specific view of dealing with risk, you can say that its primary focus is on particular hazards and does not try to solve many problems at once. These hazards are mostly dealt with by employing simple solutions like getting an insurance cover.

When you look at it, traditional risk management does not see things from a broad perspective. That’s where ERM comes in. It makes use of a more holistic view and considers business risk as well. Unlike the traditional process that only limits each investigation to a department or smaller business unit, ERM takes a different course and considers all the risks that a business or organization may face at some point. It then amalgamates them and checks for any trends or connections.

You can say that ERM is an advancement to traditional risk management because it takes into account specific hazards that occur to enterprises within different departments. It, however, doesn’t stop there and goes further to address financial, operational, and strategic risks that are taken care of from an enterprise-wide view.

In as much as these two processes tend to appear similar, many people never really get the difference when talking about risk. They differ in three main areas, namely:

Insurance

Mode of risk treatment

Reactive vs. proactive decision making

Insurance

As mentioned earlier, if the solution to your risk is insurance, then that definitely falls under the traditional risk management framework. Here, the criterion is simple, and there are not many complexities. Situations are invariably specific, and even though they are beneficial, they fail to take into consideration the overall view and how the entire enterprise can be protected.

ERM, however, goes further beyond just addressing the close problem. It looks at the organization as a whole. It adds on to the protection brought by the insurance. Its main aim is to make sure that the business is not vulnerable to other threats, and it reduces the chances of them happening.

A good example is in the healthcare industry, where it relates to compliance. For instance, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) has enabled better regulation and accountability in this specific industry, which has, in turn, led to better results for its users. However, some organizations, like the International Standards Organization (ISO), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the Payment Card Industry (PCI) have come up with some compliance requirements that different individual departments should take up throughout the healthcare business.

This compliance procedure was not as effective as it ought to be, and it wasn’t easy either. It then called for a better way to deal with the requirements and the Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST) decided to bring them together under one umbrella. This, then, matches the description of the ERM process, which aims at protecting the entire organization. The idea is to ensure that there is no one department with specific compliance requirements that may lead to uneven benefits on different areas of the enterprise.

Mode of Risk Treatment

The traditional risk management approach assesses the risks of different business areas separately. The same risks may have spillover effects on other departments, and if there is poor communication, the issue goes unaddressed. It gets worse. Traditionally, there is a limited viewpoint and the same risk may continue to occur in different departments and never get fully appreciated.

ERM, on the other hand, can connect the risks and deal with their cumulative effects across different areas. The ERM process is a bit delicate, and views the business as a whole. It understands its needs and tries to come up with different paths that the enterprise can take to meet its strategic goals. ERM observes trends and connections, then analyses them together to identify risks so that they can either be prevented or their effects minimized.

Reactive vs. Proactive Decision Making

ERM is more of a precautionary measure. It enables a business to get ready for risks far before they happen rather than just waiting for the problem to strike and then start looking for solutions. For large organizations, all security issues are dealt with by a Security Operations Center (SOC).

Imagine if big companies would wait until they are faced with a cyberattack, and all the data had been blocked or stolen? What would happen then? Definitely, before restoring the data, there would be a massive delay. It is paramount, therefore, that every organization gets ready for such scenarios.

The use of ERM enhances the safety of any business because not only does it help in identifying potential risks to the enterprise, but it also enables working out protection and disaster recovery procedures before the risk occurs. One remarkable benefit of this is that, whenever there is a cyberattack, the restoration of IT systems will be quicker. Also, the framework could stop the attacks from happening altogether.

Traditional risk management is good, and, in a way, protects an organization. However, using ERM will ensure the whole company is protected from any potential threat. The main aim is reducing the chances of risks occurring while ensuring the business stays aligned with its strategies.

Author Bio

Ken Lynch

Ken Lynch is an enterprise software startup veteran, who has always been fascinated about what drives workers to work and how to make work more engaging. Ken founded Reciprocity to pursue just that. He has propelled Reciprocity’s success with this mission-based goal of engaging employees with the governance, risk, and compliance goals of their company in order to create more socially minded corporate citizens. Ken earned his BS in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from MIT.

This is an article provided by our partners network. It might not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of our editorial team and management.

The SWOT guide to blockchain is a guide in 5 parts, where both the opportunities and challenges of blockchain are considered. Blockchain has the potential to be groundbreaking, offering opportunities and better solutions for a range of situations and industries worldwide. It is easy to get swept up in the euphoria that those that strongly favor this technology inspire. However, it is not without its drawbacks. Analysing its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, is important to really understand what blockchain technology has to offer, from an objective perspective, and where it is best placed to help and bring about innovation that truly improves the world. Part 3 of the guide analysis regulation as one of its main challenges… that can be transformed into an opportunity.

Regulation

Regulation is a question that is commonly raised in relation to blockchain technology. It is no surprise that this recent technology has grabbed the attention of governments, given the potential changes it could mean for many industries. While some argue that regulation should be avoided, given that it could stifle innovation, others believe that regulators need to be involved and bought in to blockchain, for its benefits to be fully realised. Blockchain requires a complete redefinition of business processes, since there are no middlemen involved in transactions. With regulators on the side, an acceptable solution can be built from the start, rather than having to try and re-engineer technology to fit legislative requirements later.

When Should Regulators Interfere?

Experts suggest that regulation will depend on how the technology is actually being used. Where blockchain is used within a firm, privately for data storage, it is unlikely to warrant legislative interest. However, there is likely to be interest and legislative input around areas that might suggest the development of monopolies. For example, if competitors are joining together to develop blockchain technology that will give them opportunities to share data or even transactions then this is certainly likely to raise eyebrows from a regulatory perspective.

This is why there is a strong argument for getting regulators involved and on board earlier rather than later. This will help them to better understand how to legislate to allow technological solutions to develop in an effective manner, rather than hampering progress through regulations that are unnecessary. Indeed, in many cases new legislation will not be required – for example, there are already laws in place governing industry competition and monopolies. These just need to be understood from a blockchain perspective.

Blockchain Regulation in US

Since the invention of bitcoin, so 11 years ago, the National Security Agency (NSA) of the US has been surveilling Bitcoin users. This was happening as a way to prevent money laundering and counter terrorism financing with ICOs. Fast forward to current times, the US government has equated ICOs (a type of fundraising for cryptocurrencies) to IPO in the majority of cases. In terms of blockchain based projects, the US is also supporting and developing procedures and licensing. Things are changing and happening at such an increased speed, that it is hard to keep up with the most recent evolutions.

Cryptocurrency legislation in the US

Blockchain Regulation in Europe

BLockchain has been approached with overall enthusiasm, in EU countries. EU Governments have been very supportive of innovation, by allocating funds to innovation labs and supporting research even in terms of legislation. This has enabled the flourishing of a very supportive environment for entrepreneurs that encourages them in exploring use cases to test impact and laws, and by giving entrepreneurs confidence that their “approved” applications will be more trusted by their target markets. An example of this is the recent book “Legal aspects of blockchain”. The book is the result of a co-production between UNOPS,the Netherland Governmental Agency, Blockchain Pilots and a consortium of legal experts. It results from a year-long process of co-production, gathering the research of various authors and experts in the thematic areas of financial services, identity, and land registration, the legal aspects of smart contracts, implications of blockchain / DLT on the UN System, ICOs and other hot topics.

Image source,

Blockchain and GDPR

Analysts suggest that there are also other legislation that needs to be considered from a blockchain perspective. One key example is the GDPR regulations that came into law in May 2018. These require that firms are able to get rid of personal information if the consumer so requires. However, by its very nature, blockchain is immutable. Data that cannot be changed should not be put into blockchain. This raises questions about how to manage blockchain from a regulatory perspective. However, the answer is believed to be in the way that private data is managed. While some suggestions involve requesting workarounds that can apply to GDPR for blockchain, others believe it is simpler to not use these structures for the storage of data that is private. This means that GDPR would be followed without changing the law – which is far preferable.

Examples of Legal Ramifications of Blockchain Records

As this distributed ledger technology gets more and more mainstream, also due to its rigorous encryption techniques, it will have more legal bearing in courts. These, will, in return, develop more practical ways on how to regulate this still incipient technology. Recent examples of blockchain technology and regulation is a recent bill in Vermont that would make records verified through blockchain technology admissible as evidence in court. This bill creates a kind of legal backing for blockchain-based information.In Nevada, another bill has deemed smart contracts and blockchain signatures acceptable records under state law.
As distributed ledgers and systems become more common, their possible use in cases as evidence and discovery becomes more likely. This means lawyers will need to know such records exist as well how to handle that evidence as well as what specific information to request.

Blockchain Regulation in the World

Blockchain technology regulation is an ongoing process worldwide, so it is important to stay updated with corresponding resources.

Conclusion

In summary, while regulatory questions around blockchain remain, and are likely to do so for the foreseeable future, working within the boundaries of the law as it stands right now is highly recommended, and is plausible. In other cases, challenges are likely to arise later. In particular privacy, monopolies and anti-trust are likely to raise issues when working with blockchain, and working with regulators in advance is likely to be better than undoing work later.

The SWOT guide to blockchain is a guide in 5 parts, where both the opportunities and challenges of blockchain are considered. Blockchain has the potential to be groundbreaking, offering opportunities and better solutions for a range of situations and industries worldwide. In the third part of this guide, we analyze blockchain’s opportunities in terms of data. We look at how blockchain can bring sweeping positive change in the world of business by fostering new solutions, particularly with the Sharing Economy.

Data and Blockchain

One of the significant benefits of blockchain is that it presents opportunities for people to regain control over their data online. This will come as good news for many who have become increasingly uncomfortable with the level of data that is held by technology companies about them. Companies like Google and Facebook have brought tremendous benefits to our lives, but it has not been without a cost. That cost has been surrendering a lot of personal data in exchange for receipt of services. Blockchain has the potential to change all that, allowing people to take back control of their data, and additionally to gain value from it.

There is no doubt that the internet has changed lives. Based on open technology, connections are possible between people, and ideas, products and services can be shared globally. However, some large organisations dominate what we do on the internet. For example, in Europe, Google is used for searches in 80% of cases. Facebook is thought to have two billion monthly active users. What this means is that these platforms hold tremendous power in the fact that we surrender our personal data to them, and it is difficult to operate in modern life without some of them. This makes them giants in their respective fields, and it is difficult for small entrants to challenge them. But concerns have been rising, as data has been hacked and stolen, and in some cases, used inappropriately by companies operating via Facebook – such as in the influencing of the democratic process.

Blockchain does not need a middleman like Facebook or Google to operate effectively. Rather, individuals can perform transactions between each other. In particular, with regard to data, what this means is that people will have greater ability to control access to their personal data. They will also know who has accessed their data. Work is underway to ensure that individual consumers can indeed realise these benefits. With blockchain stores of online data, it will be possible for people to look after their own data and provide or deny access to others as they wish.

A number of entities have already begun work on developing these types of solutions. Slock.it is one example, allowing consumers to rent or sell items with no third parties involved, and Arcade.city theoreticallyuses blockchain so that ridesharing can occur without a middleman. Meanwhile, Shocard and Onename are solutions that allow consumers to demonstrate their identity to organisations with a certified ID, and then this is secured using blockchain technology. Most of these projects are just beginning though, and have no real impact in people’s lives. Plus they are very complex and hardly anyone can actually understand them. They are more visions of what will eventually be possible in the future.

Screenshot of slock.it

Nesta too is working on developing hardware and software, in addition to models of doing business that deviate from the direction of a centralised internet. The plan is to pilot solutions in different European cities, and demonstrate clearly how users can keep ownership and control of their data using blockchain technology solutions. This will allow sharing economy models to really be one-on-one, cutting out the middleman.

While we should not expect companies like Google and Facebook to stop thriving, the new alternatives that are being proposed are likely to become increasingly more palatable for many.

The SWOT guide to blockchain is a guide in 5 parts, where both the opportunities and challenges of blockchain are considered. Blockchain has the potential to be groundbreaking, offering opportunities and better solutions for a range of situations and industries worldwide.In the second part of this guide, we analyze opportunities. We look at how blockchain can bring sweeping positive change in the world of business by fostering new solutions, particularly with the Sharing Economy.

New Business Models: sharing economy, and others

For a while there was a lot of hype about the sharing economy. Excitement emerged out of the idea that start-up technology organisations could challenge the existing ways of doing business, and that sharing would be an integral component of this. The idea that people could share space in their homes to people that wanted a room for the night was advanced by Airbnb, while car sharing was brought about by Uber. However, the reality has not met with the ideals of proponents of the sharing economy, and there has been societal dissatisfaction with the damage that some of these “sharing companies” have been doing.

One of the problems with some of the best known so-called “sharing economy” solutions (such as those mentioned above) to date is the fact that they are centralised organisations. Such companies require the input of their users and from this they are able to secure value for themselves. This means that the value that users get for their contributions is not really recognised (consider Facebook for example) and these large centralised organisations pocket large profits. However, the tide is turning and there is an increasing desire for decentralisation. This has the potential to allow for greater sharing of the benefits, and blockchain could have an important role to play in this development of the sharing economy.

Blockchain and The Sharing Economy

With blockchain technology’s decentralisation, individuals can be coordinated on a large scale to undertake activities without a middleman. This technology offers governance and interaction without a third party to oversee it. Some social networks have already been developed that operate in a decentralised manner using blockchain. Some examples include Akasha, Steem.io and Synereo. The rules of operating are configured in the blockchain, fees are paid and fees can be earned by contributors via this type of platform.

Looking at sharing economy examples specifically, platforms for car pooling have already been built that are decentralised – and thus differ significantly from Uber. Examples are ArcadeCity and Lazooz. Again, the rules that govern them are built into the blockchain infrastructure, and these manage interactions between those that need a ride, and the car drivers. Drivers are rewarded via the blockchain technology, and gain tokens that offer them a share in the platform. Thus, drivers are motivated to help the platform build in its success, because in doing so, they have more to gain personally as well. These types of solutions can be understood as platform cooperatives. This is because people who contribute are also essentially shareholders, and wealth can be more equitably distributed based on who added the most value. This way of working with blockchain significantly challenges the concept of hierarchical and centralised models.

Blockchain and Inequality

Theoretically, blockchain can also help challenge equality issues in society too. For example, in the finance industry the very poor are usually unable to gain access to financial services. Blockchain can offer banking solutions to the unbanked. Banks have requirements that the unbanked are typically unable to meet. Blockchain can help get around this through providing trust, which is built into the technology in smart contracts. This provides an immutable record of the truth, particularly in terms of identifying people – which can be one of the problems for the unbanked. This again is a narrative, that should be taken with a healthy doses of skepticism. Even if the potential of change is there, it all depends on the way smart contracts are written, and ultimately on the mindset and types of values of the entrepreneurs/companies, willing to invest and organise around blockcahin solutions.

Changing Business Models

Blockchain is ultimately likely to change what we think of as a company today. This is because blockchain technology has the potential to impact on the four major costs of an organisation, namely, search, coordination, contracting and establishing trust. The truth will be within the system so there will be no need for search, and coordination will also be achieved through the system. Contracting costs will be reduced as a result of the use of smart contracts, and establishing trust is achieved through the blockchain technology itself. This has the potential to significantly disrupt existing business models, changing the nature of what we consider to be a “firm” today. This is not least because greater efficiency will be achieved through being able to rely on the technology to do so much. However, while all of this is very exciting, it is important to remember the issues raised in the earlier subsection of this guide.

For you to be able to recruit great employees, you need creativity and diligence. Technology has made it easy for you to connect to a broad audience. However, getting the best employees is a challenge. Here are some great tips for hiring excellent employees.

1. Use Social Media

When it comes to recruitment tools, social media is among the best. As much as social media allows two-way communication, your job posting is shared with all your followers. The good thing is that even if any of your followers are not interested in the job, they can recommend it to someone else that they think is qualified enough. Share the company’s videos and images so that the applicants can have an idea of the company’s culture. You can chat with a potential employee and get to understand them before meeting him or her.

2. Enforce an Employee Referral Program

Excellent employees tend to hang around people that are professionals. Such employees share their contacts with their friends and family members. They do that so that they can be alerted if there are any job openings that are a good fit for them. Therefore, it is always advisable to come up with a well-developed employee referral program. By incorporating bonuses and other initiatives, you motivate your employees to bring in the best talents in the market. The employees can recommend qualified relatives and friends.

3. Know What you Want

Before you begin the recruiting process, you need to understand what you are looking for. What are the critical skills and behaviors that you are looking for? Write down all the requirements and ensure that nothing is left out. The process of writing down what you expect from an employee is more challenging than the interview process. Most companies make the mistake of beginning the recruitment process without understanding what kind of professional they need. Therefore, do not be in a hurry. Take your time and ensure that break down all the required skills and competencies for a certain open position.

4. Check Resumes posted Online

Some websites accommodates resumes from different people in diverse fields. Therefore, as an employer, you can enter the job title and skills required. Additionally, you can narrow down your search to educational background and years of experience. If you are looking to hire professionals, take your time and look up the internet for any resumes that have been uploaded. You might get the right person for the job.

5. Consider Past Applications

When people are competing for a job, many qualified recruits end up missing the chance because of one reason or another. Therefore, if you are recruiting more people for the same position, take time and revisit the previous applications. The advantage is that those past applicants have an idea of what your company culture is. Additionally, they might have gained more experience in the field since you last spoke.

6. Treat Candidates like Clients

Whether you are talking on the phone or face-to-face, the first impression your candidate gets of your company is essential. Make them feel comfortable and show interest in knowing them. The best way to treat candidates is the same way you treat your clients. When you plan a meeting at a particular time, do not keep the candidate waiting. If you are running late, let them know in advance. That way, they can be more willing to put their best foot forward when they work for you.

7. Pre-employment Assessments

The best way to know if an applicant is fit for a position is to give them pre-employment tests. They include aptitude tests, skills test, and personality test. That way, you can confirm if the information on the applicant’s cover letter and resume is true.

8. Good Benefits Package and an Opportunity to Grow

Most talented employees or job seekers want to work for a company that can enable them to grow and become better at what they do. They seek more responsibility and fair compensation. Therefore, if you want to attract great workers, offer them a great working environment and good pay.

Conclusion

When it comes to hiring new professionals, persistence, and ability to think outside the box is vital. By using the recruitment strategies mentioned above, you are guaranteed of getting the best employees available in any field.

The SWOT guide to blockchain is a guide in 5 parts, where both the opportunities and challenges of blockchain are considered. Blockchain has the potential to be groundbreaking, offering opportunities and better solutions for a range of situations and industries worldwide. It is easy to get swept up in the euphoria that those that strongly favor this technology inspire. However, it is not without its drawbacks. Analysing blockchain’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, is important to really understand what blockchain technology has to offer, from an objective perspective, and where it is best placed to help and bring about innovation that truly improves the world.

What is SWOT

SWOT Analysis is a method of analysis developed by Alber S. Humphrey (there has been some debate on the originator of the tool, as discussed in the International Journal of Business Research) which is a useful technique for understanding the Strengths and Weaknesses, and for identifying both the Opportunities and the Threats of any given technology and/or product. Strengths and weaknesses are often internal to the technology itself, while opportunities and threats generally relating to external factors. These boundaries though, are not fixed but permeable; a strength is also an opportunity, but it can become a threat if looked at through the wrong mindset.

By the end of the day, Blockchain is human technology, invented by human consciousness.It is thus alive, impregnated with human values and always evolving. If we want a Blockchain technology that truly helps and improves the world, the type of mindset of the ones involved with blockchain impacts the outcomes of the technology.

Strengths of Blockchain. Image by Dinis Guarda

Strengths

Blockchain is, by the end of the day, a decentralised and distributed database ( distributed along the nodes of its network). What are then its strengths? A decentralised ledger of transactional data presents numerous operational benefits. These are for example the lower cost of ownership its secure encryption and tamper-proof capabilities. Supposedly it also provides reduced storage costs and operational efficiency accessible worldwide. The storage is distributed and not centralised.

It facilitates information sharing in a transparent way and it provides a platform for Big Data and Analytics projects that is decentralized. Finally, it integrates accounting into transaction record itself.

Opportunities for Blockchain. Image by Maria Fonseca. Intelligenthq

Opportunities

Looking at opportunities, pertain to the external. How are the practical applications of blockchain helping the world? Payment processing is one of the benefits that has arguably been most explored for blockchain technology. This is to the point that some people do not even understand that blockchain has benefits beyond those provided for cryptocurrencies, which have become slightly discredited due to all the scams and speculation happening in 2018.

However, blockchain can also be used for many other types of commerce. In particular, it offers the potential for benefits with transactions between countries. At the current time, cross-border transactions can be slow and cumbersome, given the number of checks that need to occur. However, blockchain technology provides the chance to develop an archictecture that can be used across borders, to carry out transactions very quickly, in comparison. Given the level of trust and the lack of a need for a middleman, due to blockchain’s theoretical immutability, this technology is well-suited to driving change in the ways in which commerce is done.

Another significant area of benefit is which blockchain offers to businesses. For example, blockchain can be used to foster a fairer sharing economy. It can also be used in the supply chain which would help with the circular economy movement, and for quality control too ( also helping the ethical/sustainable production movement). The information exchange it allows between suppliers and customers will also be beneficial. Document management can be better tracked through the use of blockchain, ensuring that everyone is accessing the same data.

Governments can also gain opportunities from the use of blockchain technology. Solutions built from blockchain can be used for identity management in particular, as well as for smart contracts. Data can be securely stored within for protecting state services. All of this can reduce bureaucracy and speed up processes, benefiting society as a whole since greater efficiency should, in theory, mean lower costs. Fewer people will be required to carry out manual checks. Finally, if IoT becomes mainstream, blockchain could be the perfect technology to adopt.

All of these are important benefits that could be brought about by taking advantage of blockchain technology.

Threats for Blockchain. Image by Maria Fonseca. Intelligenthq

Threats

Blockchain challenges also need to be considered. Believing this technology is without its issues would be folly. One challenge is the risk of a 51% attack. To understand what this means, one needs to grasp how blockchain architecture operates. A blockchain network, consist of a group of nodes ( computers). A 51% attack occurs when either a node or group of nodes within the network that control 51% of the power of the blockchain can change the records on the blockchain. This makes blockchains not immutable in this circumstance. Such an attack would damage the reputation of blockchain, and impact negatively on its potential use.

The 51% issue also becomes more challenging to manage once a network gets to a particular size. There are likely to be space issues associated with the storage of data, given the massive amounts of data that need to be stored on large blockchains. Perhaps linked to this, blockchain can be slow to process transactions compared to current solutions within the market like debit cards. This is problematic considering that payments for many types of goods and services need to be instantaneous – for example, for food or beverages.

It is also important to understand that established incumbents do not necessarily have an interest in blockchain succeeding, and this, realistically, does influence its ability to succeed. The large players in the financial industry would in many cases like blockchain technology to just go away. After all, blockchain is not in their interests, as middlemen. Banks make a lot of money through acting as a middleman, but blockchain could impact on profits since no middleman is needed. Banks have a lot of power and can influence governments. This potential barrier should not be ignored, as it could limit the ways in which blockchain could be used. This is compounded by the fact that the complexity of the technology makes it challenging to understand the multitude of ways in which it could bring benefits. On the other hand the idea of smart contracts is frightening for most people, who are rightly suspicious of the benefit automated processes, such as the ones implicit in smart contracts.

There are also negative environmental impacts of blockchain. Some of these threats/challenges will be looked at in detail in later sections of this guide.

Weaknesses of Blockchain. Image by Maria Fonseca. Intelligenthq

Weaknesses

Blockchain is an extremely complex technology. One thing is the media’s narrative and storytelling about it, another is the details of how it operates. The devil is in the detail, but to look at those details, is key to prevent challenges and foresee solutions. An important weakness of blockchain pertains to the network itself. These tend to be quite small (made up with the connected nodes of the network, each node run by smart engineers and techie coders, that know how to mine and/or program). Actually, most applicable solutions developed with blockchain tech, use off-chain technology. Then, the issues with energy consumption are remarcable and need to be tackled, if blockchain truly delivers what it promisses. Finally, there are problems of scale …. but this is a problem that can be transformed into an opportunity, as it can disrupt the mentality of “scale at all costs” still prevalent in the business world. Its automation processes, based in smart contracts, can also be seen as problematic, of easy access to hackers, and highly inhumane, as there is no one to contact in case of loss of users credentials.

If this company had added words like “won” and “lost” under the teams, it would have been much easier for color blind people to find out whether their team won or lost;

➢ never apply green CTA buttons to red images and vice versa;

(original email)

(original email)

(the same email through color blond people’s eyes)

(the same email through color blond people’s eyes)

➢ always write links in bold. It’s not enough to make them blue. This trick actually works not only for color blind people. When reading emails on smartphones and tablets outside, people may not differentiate colors if the sun is shining onto the screen. And avoid underlining links as it may confuse dyslexic readers. It’s preferable to write menu items in bold, too;

➢ if you use interactive elements (like rollovers) to run quizzes in emails and decide to highlight correct answers with green and incorrect with red — be sure to indicate if the answer is correct with words also.

(example by HubSpot)

Please, take a look at this table of color perception by colorblind people :

It’s crucial to use this tool, which is totally free btw, to see the emails through the colorblind people’s eyes.

2. Requirements for blindness

The situation with total color blindness is absolutely different as blind people use screen readers.

We need to create emails that are legible for these assets.

Subject lines

A subject line is the first thing a screen reader reads. Make it as concise and descriptive as possible — in fact, it reflects the main idea of the email.

Language settings

Try to listen to some messages by means of any screen reader (I tried 3 ones). It was pretty stressful.

How it works: the screen reader speaks the language a blind person has set as a default one. And if this person receives a message that is written in another language, the software reads everything in a horrible way (transliteration). To make sure your emails will be read correctly, in its code set the language you write your email in.

Right at the beginning of the email, insert:

<html lang=“en”>

(This email accessibility practice works best for bi-or multilingual countries).

Encoding characters

The Content-Type determines the way an email will be displayed on recipients’ screens. Add <charset=”UTF-8″> in HTML code right after “<head>” as this is the most popular charset, it supports most of the characters.

Some modern email builders like Stripo already have set this Content Type in their email templates.

Logical order

When designing and styling text, use tags <h1>, <h2>, etc. as they have an advantage over <p> for a screen reader. Even if your font size is 32px or more, the copy wrapped in tags <h1> or <h2> will be read first.

Alt text

Screen readers cannot “read” images in emails. But they are capable of reading their “alt text”. So make it clear and informative.

Note: do not use the word “image” in the alt text, as its tags already contain it. A blind person when listening to this email will hear the word “image” twice.

Note: when adding a GIF that shows recipients how to use your product, provide them with a detailed textual manual under the GIF or at least add a link that will take customers to your website landing page.

Links

Links are supposed to be meaningful. Make the links text clear and informative!

Just compare:

The first link doesn’t contain any specific information, while the second one has details in it.

The way screenreaders read links:

We tested different emails on various screen readers in many languages, here are the results: